Pakistan on Thursday praised Turkey for its support for the people of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Following a meeting in the capital Islamabad with Turkey’s envoy to Pakistan, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, Shehryar Afridi, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s stance on Kashmir has helped internationally highlight the issue.
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“President Erdogan has played vital role in exposing Hindutva designs against the people of Kashmir and Indian minorities as the goons of proscribed Rashtariya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were lynching Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Dalit Hindus with impunity and the Indian authorities were providing assistance in actions against the Indian minorities and Kashmiris,” Afridi said in a statement after his meeting with Ambassador Mustafa Yurdakul.
He said India was destabilizing peace in the region between the three nuclear powers of Pakistan, China and India, warning that any “misadventure” on Kashmir could jeopardize the region, affecting more than half of the world’s population.
Met Turkish Amb HE @Mustafa_MFA to acknowledge & appreciate strong support from people & govt of 🇹🇷 for the cause of #Kashmir. Indeed Turkey had been voice of voiceless across the globe. We shall work together to bring Kashmir cause in front of prosperous world to expose Modi pic.twitter.com/H4O5rEIHlE
— Shehryar Afridi (@ShehryarAfridi1) August 27, 2020
“Turkey has been playing leading role for whole Ummah [Muslims across the world] to stand united against their common enemy,” said Afridi, stressing the urgent need to raise attention among the international media on the alleged atrocities of India in Kashmir.
He also lauded the Turkish embassy’s key role in advancing relations between Pakistan and Turkey. For his part, Yurdakul underlined that Ankara’s role in voicing Kashmiris’ grievances would continue
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Decades-long dispute
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is occupied by India and administered in parts and claimed in full by Pakistan. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China. Since they were partitioned in 1947, New Delhi and Islamabad have fought three wars — in 1948, 1965 and 1971 — two of them over Kashmir.
Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence or for unification with neighboring Pakistan. According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.
Read more: The bloodshedding in Kashmir must end
Anadolu with additional input by GVS News Desk